Neighbours blockade road in protest at Old Oak Lane incinerator plans

RESIDENTS blockaded the road on Saturday morning as they stepped up their efforts to stop the development of a waste incinerator plant.

The Triangle Island Residents’ Association protest aimed to highlight the disruption that Clean Power’s lorries would cause them along Old Oak Lane, Acton, near Willesden Junction. Their temporary blockade ended around midday.

TITRA Chairman Toby Bolland, 40, of Goodhall Street, is concerned the Environment Agency has no control over the transport of waste to the plant.

He said: “They give no thought whatsoever to the fact that trucks have to drive through the middle of the community.

“It’s basically industrial waste they will be processing.”

Entran, an environment consultancy hired by Clean Power, has predicted a reduction in lorry movements from current levels at the site.

However, Mr Bolland claims present movements are unusually high due to a temporary tunnel-digging project taking place He says there would be a reduction with or without the plant once this project ceases.

A surveyor himself, Mr Bolland said: “I know how these documents are produced. It’s all about making the results fit what you want.”

The plans call for access 24 hours a day and TITRA say they are already kept up at night by lorries passing their cottages and causing the buildings to shake.

“It’s just awful,” said Marie Somerville, of Crewe Place. “They go through at night. They’re very noisy and we don’t get any peace”

Daniel Jones, also of Goodhall Street, said: “It’s literally on the doorsteps of these homes.

“Have they provided enough evidence to say whether access is suitable to the site? We don’t think they have. “

TITRA is particularly concerned with potential odour problems from the plant, which will also include four anaerobic digestion tanks.

Clean Power says the site will be kept under negative pressure to prevent odours escaping and that it has an odour management plan.

However, the Powerday recycling plant, which is also nearby, has long concerned neighbours.

“We live with the smell of rubbish on a regular basis. We can prove already that odour management plans don’t work,” said Mr Bolland.

“Technology breaks down,” said Mr Jones. “When you’ve got tons and tons of putrid organic waste on a site and anything happens to the negative pressure system, then it is going to stink!”